


Forever

by PersonOfSinterest



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2019-06-26 00:46:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15652326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PersonOfSinterest/pseuds/PersonOfSinterest
Summary: When things don't go according to plan, Sarah and Jareth meet in the most unlikely of circumstances





	Forever

_The crack of a gun. The sensation of falling. Skull connecting with slick pavement. And then... ___  
Sarah bolted upright, breathing heavily. She hugged her legs close, attempting to calm her frantic heart.  
“It was just a dream...just a really... _really _bad dream…” She muttered to herself, looking around her room, trying to find something to ground herself. It was only then that she realized the room wasn’t her own. That the bed she was sitting on was little more than a cot with a thin linen blanket covering her feet. Terrified, she jumped out of the bed, whipping her head around until they landed on a dark figure leaning against the opposite wall.__  
“Hello?”  
The figure lifted its head, a lopsided grin on his face. “I was beginning to think they would save you.”  
She was taken aback. “Save me? What are you talking-” The gunshot echoed in her head again, and she sat back on the bed. “It...it wasn’t a dream…”  
He shook his head slowly, watching her carefully.  
“But...if this is the afterlife…” she looks around at the rows of unoccupied beds. “Where is everyone?”  
He chuckles darkly. “I’ve been wondering the same thing for the last five thousand years.”  
Her eyes widened. The man before her looked no older than 24, but...something about him looked too unreal for him to be fully human.  
“What’s your name?” She asks cautiously.  
“Jareth,” he says simply.  
She waited for him to ask her name, but he just tilted his head slightly and sat on the bed opposite of her. “How did you die?”  
“I...” she began slowly, still not believing that it was real. The day before she had gotten a lead role in her favorite show. She had finally asked out the guy she liked, and had a costume fitting the next day.  
Before she knew it, tears had formed in the corners of her eyes. “I think it...it…” Sarah put her head in her hands and choked back a sob.  
Jareth winced, watching the girl cry, but unsure of how to help her. After five millenia alone, watching the girl break down felt invasive. “I’m...sorry you have to go through this. Especially so young,” he says softly.  
After a minute, she rubs the heel of her hand into her eyes. “Why...why are you so concerned about me?”  
“Being alone for so long gave me a lot of time to think. About myself, my...friends, other people. I was cruel and ruthless and...and I have nobody else to be concerned for.” He shrugs, sitting back on his bed, a distant look in his eye.  
She sniffed, balling up the thin blanket in her hands. “What...what was your life like?”  
He lets out a bitter laugh. “I was a king. A powerful, destructive ruler with a kingdom that I never wanted. I reigned for thousands of years until I was...dethroned.”  
Jareth casts a pointed look towards Sarah, but she doesn’t register its meaning.  
He shakes his head and sighs. “Once I was killed I arrived here, the same as you. A dimly lit room full of broken down beds.” He half smiles at her. “The only difference is now we both have someone to talk to.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was for a fanfiction contest that I entered, and I liked this a lot, so I'm posting it here! Hope you enjoy it!


End file.
